Thin-film nanocomposite forward osmosis membrane for water desalination: synthesis, characterization and performance improvement

Abstract The major scope of this study is the fabrication and development of a substrate and polyamide rejection layer for an efficient thin-film hydrophilic composite forward osmosis (TFC-FO) membrane. Fabrication of a thin-film nanocomposite forward osmosis membrane employing interfacial polymerization and modification of substrate characteristics using titanium dioxide (TiO2) nanoparticles as additives (TFNC-FO) are studied. Characterizations of the prepared TFC-FO and TFNC-FO membranes were determined. The morphologies of cross-section, upper and bottom surfaces for the TFC-FO and TFNC-FO membranes were studied using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy was used to examine the compositions of different elements for both membranes. The hydrophilicity of the prepared TFC-FO and TFNC-FO membranes was investigated using the measurement of the contact angle test. A Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectrophotometer was used to observe the existing functional groups of the TFC-FO and TFNC-FO membranes. The thermal stability of the membrane was evaluated via thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The overall performance of TFC-FO membranes was evaluated with and without adding TiO2 nanoparticles through different parameters, such as membrane flux, initial feed concentration, draw solution concentrations, reverse solute fluxes, membrane permeabilities, and finally, the effect of FO membrane orientations. FO membrane performance was successfully enhanced by adding different concentrations of TiO2 nanoparticles from 0.5 to 1.5 wt%. The findings indicated that an increase in the concentration from 0.5 to 1 wt% leads to a clear increase in both the porosity and hydrophilicity of the nanocomposite substrate and consequently, an increase in the water flux. However, further increasing the concentration of TiO2 nanoparticles to more than 1 wt% affects the membrane performance.